Ecstatic and screaming at the top of his lungs from inside his crash helmet. This was how Zachary ‘Zach’ David crossed the finish line during the Formula 4 UAE Championships’ third race of the weekend at Kuwait Motor Town as he claimed his maiden win in single-seaters.
Driving the #20 entry of R-ace GP in collaboration with Campos Racing, Zach was quick straight out of the box for Round 2 of the 2023 season. He set the fastest time in 2 out of the 5 test sessions and was in tune to the high speed flowing nature of the 5.609 km circuit. The Filipino driver, however, got a bit too overeager during QTT1 and lost his front wing. Unable to set a time, it meant that he had to start Race 1 from the back of the grid. But he made sure to make up for the mistake in QTT2 and was 5th fastest out of 38 runners.
A first lap pileup in Race 1 easily took out several drivers, which forced the session to be red flagged. Zach was one of the unfortunate few who failed to continue at the restart and had to watch the action from on the sidelines.
Zach was finally able to convert his strong pace into a solid result in Race 2. The 15-year-old found himself right in the thick of the championship battle that was brewing between more experienced drivers who were backed by Formula 1 teams. He was able to stay out of trouble throughout the 10-lap race and took the chequered flag in a solid 5th place, 3.347 secs behind the winner McLaren junior driver Ugo Ugochukwu.
Eventually, all things came together for Zach in the final race of the weekend. A chaotic first lap took out all other title contenders, which brought the Safety Car out. Now sitting in P2, he quickly disposed of Noah Lisle of Xcel Motorsport at the restart and took the lead. Zach then had to drive the hardest 8 laps in his motorsports career to just keep all the other drivers behind. Making no mistakes, he kept his head down and crossed the finish line in 1st place, scoring his very first victory by a massive 4.287 sec lead.
Zach David: “It feels really good the get my first win early into my F4 career. I was ecstatic and screaming inside my helmet when I crossed the finish line and it felt really good sas all the hard work paid off. I want to thank my whole team around me, my family, and everyone supporting me.”
There’ll be no time to rest for Zach as the action immediately resumes in a week’s time. Kuwait Motor Town is host to the only double-header weekend in the 2023 calendar with Round 3 scheduled on January 31 to February 1. Surely, the young Filipino will be looking to repeat his success next weekend.
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[Photo courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency and F4 UAE]
